By Harris                                        S.B. No. 312

      75R3549 ESH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the use of certain information in appraising a public

 1-3     school teacher.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 21.351, Education Code, is amended by

 1-6     amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) to read as

 1-7     follows:

 1-8           (a)  The commissioner shall adopt a recommended appraisal

 1-9     process and criteria on which to appraise the performance of

1-10     teachers.  The criteria must be based on observable, job-related

1-11     behavior, including:

1-12                 (1)  teachers' implementation of discipline management

1-13     procedures; and

1-14                 (2)  the performance of teachers' students, subject to

1-15     Subsection (e).

1-16           (e)  The criteria used in the recommended appraisal process

1-17     may not include the ratio of failing grades given by a teacher to

1-18     all grades given by the teacher.

1-19           SECTION 2.  Section 21.352, Education Code, is amended by

1-20     adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

1-21           (e)  The criteria used in the appraisal process developed by

1-22     the district- and campus-level committees may not include the ratio

1-23     of failing grades given by a teacher to all grades given by the

1-24     teacher.

 2-1           SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998

 2-2     school year.

 2-3           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-8     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-9     passage, and it is so enacted.